Description:The scene is New York City's Lower East Side. The year is 1896. A Russian Jewish immigrant has abandoned the traditions of Eastern European Orthodox Jewry. To look more like "an American", he has cut off his ear locks and shaved his beard. Then he is summoned to Ellis Island to pick up his wife and young son who have followed him from the old country. Will she be able to assimilate fast enough to satisfy her husband? Does she want to?

"Hester Street" is based on a story by Abraham Cahan first
published in 1896 in the Jewish Daily Forward (Forvarts), a
Yiddish language newspaper published in New York City. It was later
republished as a short novel under the name "Yekl."

Benefits of the Movie:This movie shows life in the Jewish sections of New
York City's lower East Side during the years of massive immigration
from Eastern Europe. It tells the story of a Jewish family
during that period and shows some of the strains that emigration placed upon husbands and wives.

Most of the dialogue is in English but some conversations
occur in Yiddish with English subtitles.

Parenting Points: Ask and help your child to answer the Quick Discussion Question. If any of your ancestors came to the U.S. during the migration from Eastern Europe of the late 19th and early 20th century, tell this to your child. If your child is very interested in the film, go through some of the other discussion questions.

QUICK DISCUSSION QUESTION: What was it that doomed the marriage of Gitl and Jake?

Suggested Response: They assimilated at different rates and in different ways. Jake was in the country earlier and went out into the business world. All of this allowed him to assimilate faster and more completely. Gitl came later and, like most immigrant women, was at home most of the time. Her assimilation proceeded more slowly.

Selected Awards, Cast and Director:

Selected Awards:1975 Academy Award Nominations: Best Actress (Kane).

Featured Actors: Carol Kane, Doris Roberts, Steven Keats, Mel
Howard.

Director: Joan Micklin Silver.

Helpful Background:

More than two million Eastern European and Russian Jews
immigrated to the United States between 1880 and 1924. This
immigration was caused not so much by increased opportunity in the
United States as by conditions in Europe, including: violent pogroms, laws restricting Jewish
employment, denial of education, restriction on areas of settlement and the threat of long military conscription. See, for example
Fiddler on the Roof. In 1924 Congress passed severely restricted immigration from Eastern Europe.

Dance halls proliferated in the Lower East Side at the turn
of the century. They introduced their students to American ideas
of style and class and offered unmarried working class people the
chance to meet each other.

Marriage was often a casualty of emigration. In the early part of the
20th century the Lower East Side, where millions of recently arrived
Eastern European Jews first settled, had one of the
highest divorce rates in New York City. The Jewish Daily
Forward, a New York based Yiddish newspaper edited by Abraham
Cahan, had a section called "Gallery of Missing Men" featuring
photographs of men who had deserted their families together with
pleas for their return. One mechanism by which immigrant families were
broken apart is shown in the movie. Often the men came first and
worked to save the money needed to pay the transportation costs
for their families. During this period, the men would assimilate
and adopt American culture rapidly. Even when the men came with
their families, the men usually assimilated more rapidly than the women.
The men went to the outside world to earn a living while
the women stayed at home. When one spouse did not change as fast
as the other, friction often developed in the family. When Jake, in an
angry outburst calls his wife a "greenhorn," he is referring to
her failure to adopt the customs of her new country.

One of the major differences between emigrants who had
assimilated into American society and those who maintained the
old ways was in their appearance. In Russia and Eastern Europe,
married women wore wigs (called "sheitels") to demonstrate their
modesty and piety. Men wore beards and ear locks. Jake cuts the
ear locks off of his son shortly after the boy arrives in America.

A "get" is a Jewish Divorce. This movie shows the couple obtaining a get.
One of the themes of the film is how the wife prevails over the husband who spurned her.
She won't give him the divorce he wants until she is paid every penny that his girlfriend has saved.
This is enough money to set her new husband up in business.

For English Language Arts classes, distribute TWM's Film Study Worksheet. Teachers can modify the worksheet to fit the needs of each class. Ask students to fill out the worksheet as they watch the film or at the film's end.

Are you concerned that time will be wasted if you are absent from class?
Worry no more . . . Check out TeachWithMovies' Set-Up-the-Sub.

(Be honest; Don't deceive, cheat or steal; Be reliable -- do what you say you'll do; Have the courage to do the right thing; Build a good reputation; Be loyal -- stand by your family, friends and country)

1. Divorce often involves a conflict between values. The values which stand against divorce include the ethical values of trustworthiness and responsibility, as well as the goals as maintenance of families. Some religions prohibit divorce. On the other hand, the ethical value of self-respect and the goals of self-realization and the pursuit of happiness, lead people to jettison bad marriages. Given the divorce rates in the United States, the decision of most people is that trustworthiness, responsibility and maintenance of the family unit, as important as they are, give way to self-respect and the need for people to be with those that they love and to be happy in their family relationships. There are, however, substantial segments of our society which still believe that divorce is immoral. What do you think about this?

(Additional questions are set out in the "Marriage" section above.)

RESPONSIBILITY

(Do what you are supposed to do; Persevere: keep on trying!; Always do your best; Use self-control; Be self-disciplined; Think before you act -- consider the consequences; Be accountable for your choices)

2. When you evaluate Jake's conduct, whether or not you agree that the divorce was the right thing for him to do, there was something that he did that was worse than merely finding a new girlfriend who was more compatible with his lifestyle. What was it? Suggested Response: Jake's abandonment of his family when they were in a new and strange environment made the breach of trust and lack of responsibility worse than in a usual divorce.

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